The Promise Keeper's Wife
by RainyDumplings
Summary: It's 1939 in Munich, Germany. Krista is a history teacher who loves her students, but everything changed when war was brought to Munich's borders and she meets a little Jewish boy who's family was taken away and a magic Nordic immigrant named Ymir. AU and has death in it. I repeat myself, it has death in it. YumiKuri. Multi-chapter. Extreme fluffiness.
1. Prologue

**This story is Ymir and Krista driven and focuses entirely on the duo - but the story itself takes place in Nazi Germany. (1939 - 1945) Don't like? Toodles! You like? Then come...sit down with me and have a cup of tea...  
**

**Note on Tess's England: I write the English way for example: color. I will write **_**colour. **_**It's not that I'm misspelling, it's simply that I write the English way.**

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**Stalingrad, 1945 - Prologue**

Beside the wild gold...is where I cried.

She leaned down to look at _her_ lifeless face and kissed her best friend, Krista, soft and true on her lips. She tasted dusty and sweet. Ymir kissed her long and soft, and when she pulled herself away, she touched Krista's mouth with her fingers...she did not say goodbye. She was incapable, and after a few more minutes at her side, she was able to tear herself from the ground with streams flowing down her face as she staggered onwards. Towards the colours that fell on top of each other. The scribbled signature black, onto the blinding global white, onto the thick soupy red.

The _Fuhrer _was shouting madly in German, ordering his soldiers to gun down anyone who opposed stood motionless and unfeeling. She couldn't hear anything much less see. She'd become blind to what was happening in front of her, and deaf to the sound of cannons searing through the red skies. The only thing she saw was a figure dancing on Riese St. as if nothing had happened at all.

As if the bombs never fell, as if _their_ house had never been reduced to ashes, as if _she_ were still alive.

"Well, what else do you want me to do?" she looked to the two guards. The guards were tall and short. The tall one always spoke first, though he was not in charge. He looked at the smaller, rounder one. The one with the juicy face.

"Well," was the response. "we can't just leave them like this, can we?"

The tall one was losing patience. "Why not?"

And the smaller one near damn exploded. He looked up at the tall one's chin and cried, "_Spinnst du!?_ Are you stupid!?" The abhorrence on his cheeks was growing thicker by the moment. His skin widened. "Come on," he said, traipsing over the snow. "We'll carry all three of them on if we have to. We'll notify the next stop.

Ymir noticed the guards and quickly moved away and positioned herself behind the debris of a fallen building. The taller one had no problem picking up two of the three lifeless bodies and tossing them onto carts. The rounder one, however, seemed to be having more trouble.

"_Verdammt!_ Dammit!" he shouted at the dead body as if it was the dead person's fault that he couldn't pick it up and not his out-of-shape figure. The taller one snickered as if lugging dead bodies around was amusing itself, but did so even harder when his companion couldn't do the job. "Aight, mun. Hurry up. We need to be heading out soon."

Ymir felt the hairs on her skin begin to prickle as if there was something haunting about the way they said the last words. _To where?_ Ymir thought, wiping away her tear-stained cheeks.

Suddenly, barrels were pointed at her arms and legs. Her eyes widened in shock, seeing the familiar colours on the soldiers sleeves as she turned. One unfamiliar man stepped forward, his lemon-blonde hair covered in dirt and he pointed the gun at Ymir's forehead. "Jew." he told her and locked the trigger into the place.

There were hot hands and a red scream in the snows of Stalingrad.


	2. A Dreadful Row

**Good. You survived the prologue. You're safe...for now. A couple things then we'll get started.**

**Note on Ymir's German: I made up Riese St. in the last chapter. It means "giant" in German - like a Titan. Funny how similar the names Reiss and Riese are, right? Coincidence? I think not!**

**Note on Tess's England: I write the English way for example: color. I will write _colour_. It's not that I'm misspelling, it's simply that I write the English way. **

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**Munich, 1939 - A Dreadful Row**

_"Rising to heaven,_

_And hither and thither,_

_To Earth must then_

_Ever descend." _

"Well done," Krista congratulated. Peeling her eyes away from the book and towards the student that just read and motioned for him to sit down. "That was a small excerpt from one of Germany's most famous epic poets - Johann Wolfgang van Goethe. He lived around the Old High German era and passed just before the start of the Victorian era in 1837. He wrote several popular works and some..." she paused a second, pondering the students reaction to her next thing.

"Eroticism." she said in a voice so low that the back of the classroom couldn't hear her. The front row, however, erupted with laughter. The room itself was rather small, but had a warm feeling in it. The ceilings were the ugly colour and looked like it had coffee stains in the corner of the square ceiling panels. Krista quickly reclaimed the class's attention and continued with her lecture on Goethe.

She scribbled a couple words on the blackboard that'd be used for the students vocabulary as they read the epic poems, asking if anyone knew what the definition of the word was then giving a brief explanation before adding to the list. The sunlight poured into the dimly lit room, turning it into a Heaven on Earth.

"Good job today." the Aryan smiled, closing her book and watching the students flood out of the classroom like a current of water trying to force it's way through the cracks in the rocks.

"Krista!" she picked her head up to the noise to see Hanji come running into the classroom with fogged up glasses and a big hyena grin. "I have a tiny problem and please, _please_ don't tell the principal!" she begged, standing in front of the teacher's desk. "I kinda...blew up the science room."

Krista's blue orbs stared menacingly at Hanji. "Is anyone hurt?"

"Luckily..." there was a pause in her sentence that worried Krista. She flew out of her classroom and fast walked to the lab, passing the school principal but didn't so much as make eye-contact with him. "Wait!" Hanji yelled, jogging after the history teacher. Krista ripped the science room door open like a fireman in a burning building. All she saw was a small charred corner of the room.

"You didn't let me finish!" Hanji hissed, stepping into the classroom before her colleague.

"You worried me..." Krista mumbled, relieved that no one was hurt other than the room itself...if the room ever had a mind.

"I just need help restoring the room back to normal before the school janitor finds out and decides to tattle." Hanji rolled up her white lab coat sleeves and grabbed a large wastebasket from the corner of the room and dragged it over to the scene of the explosion. The history teacher began with wiping down the blackened walls and the science teacher slipped on some rubber gloves and carefully picked up the broken beaker glass and tossed them into the wastebasket. Krista had always helped Hanji whenever she was in a pinch or when something went wrong and vice versa, but they never really did anymore than that. They were just teachers living in Molching, Germany and had lives of their own, but the students perceived the two as good friends.

"Thanks," Hanji grinned, picking up the garbage. "You can go now. I'll finish up here." Krista accepted and left the science room and returned to her room to collect her things then took off.

The school wasn't far off from Haupt St. where tanks and soldiers frequented when passing through Molching. Fanatical Germans who hailed the _Fuhrer _always went to Haupt St. to greet the soldiers and welcome them to the city. Krista also was one of the Germans who came to the street but only to observe silently.

She hadn't quite figured out if she supported the war or not. If she supported the _Fuhrer_.

People started crowding on the streets with women in the front praising the men and telling them to win the war and men in the back shouted madly. "_Totet die Juden_! Kill the Jews!" the repeated loudly. Children even came to admire the soldiers and softly told each other, "I want to become like them someday!" "Heil Hitler!" and raised their arms to salute their leader.

Children didn't understand the concept of _war_. They treated it as if it were some silly parade and that nothing was happening outside of Germany's borders.

As venerable as Krista seemed, her heart always broke when she saw them. Men, women, and young children walking by in chains and raggedy cloths. From their coward lips did their colour fly.

The Germans shouted angrily at them, telling them to die and and to get out of their sight. "_Widerlich Ungeziefer,_" they muttered. "Disgusting vermin.

Krista couldn't watch anymore. Humankind destroying themselves all because of their religion. It's like watching a ladybug kill another ladybug because the other was more beautiful. She pulled at her gray flannel jacket and walked away silently, mentally apologizing to the Jews.

When turned onto Riese St. there was a group of guards knocking on house doors and asking questions to the street residents. She observed the scarlet red swastika on the their left sleeves. She shook her head and proceeded to her house before a guard a stopped her.

"You live here?" he asked, scratching his unshaven face vigorously.

"Yes sir."

"Aye," he looked around the front exterior of her house, pleased with it's decent look. Krista wasn't the richest person in Molching nor was she poor, but she lived a decent life. "Ya seen any Jews, girl? We gots ourselves an escapee." he spoke in an odd and broken German tone hinting that he might have some speech problems.

"No sir." and the guard walked off, still stroking his chin. She rolled her eyes and unlocked the front door of her house and pushed it, revealing a warm living room with dark green furniture and pictures hanging on the walls. The house was small with only a living room, kitchen, and a bedroom with a bathroom but still, it was nice and cozy.

She changed out of her teaching cloths and into more comfortable clothing and went to the kitchen stove to start a pot of tea then a knock came.

"Come in!" Krista answered, recognizing the familiar knock that Reiner made. Reiner opened the front door and and invited himself inside. "Making tea?" he asked, taking his muddy boots off at the door.

"Elderflower tea." Krista responded, turning the stove on to boil the water.

"Ah," Reiner nodded, get a whiff the elderflower aroma in the house. "Just what I like."

Krista and Reiner are childhood friends and both their parents got along, which aloud them to meet often at the soccer field.

Krista didn't like playing sports, but she enjoyed talking with Reiner there or cheering him on when he was battling it out with the other neighbourhood kids. By their late teen years, Krista went away to college to become a teacher and Reiner was drafted into the war and was in Austria for a couple years.

The lemon-blonde stepped into the kitchen and gently lowered himself into the dining table. "I swear," he began. "This war is becoming crazier and crazier by day. People are dying too from all sides as if it's some world war God decided to enact."

"It is war, Reiner." Krista answered, pouring himself a cup of tea. "However its up to humanity whether or not we let the world die or live on."

Reiner took his cup of tea and blew on it. "Humanity killing itself. Maybe that's the ultimate ending for us." he whispered and took a gulp of the tea, smiling at the cup as if it was the most beautiful thing in the world.

"So how's teaching?"

"Good I suppose. The students are good and we hardly have anything bad going on around the school."

"With the exception of Hanji." Reiner interjected.

"With the exception of Hanji." she laughed.


	3. Summer Darkness

**For now I'm just kinda writing the story and not really checking for grammar mistakes and sentence structures. (Do not fear! I will go back and edit it later.) As usual, notes then we'll begin.**

**Note of Krista's German: Munich is province of Germany, and Molching is a city in Munich. Make sense? And I made up Haupt St. in the last chapter. Also: 1939 is around the time Hitler was under full rise to power and this also the peak of the war years. (1939 - 1945)**

**Note on Tess's England: I write the English way for example: color. I will write _colour_. It's not that I'm misspelling, it's simply that I write the English way.**

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**Munich, 1939 - Summer Darkness**

Reiner left sometime late last night with the announcement that some of the troops in Austria were being returned to Germany for a few months, then will be deployed to Poland. Krista was happy knowing that her friend was going to stay around a little longer to keep company.

She was at school again teaching history to an older group than the one she had yesterday. They were focusing on learning about the Victorian era poets like Lord Alfred Tennyson and Christina Rosetti.

"_We must not look at goblin men,_

_We must not buy their fruits:_

_Who knows upon what soil they fed_

_Their hungry thirsty roots?" _

The young student bowed at Krista before placing herself back into her seat. The other students looked up to their teacher and awaited eagerly for her next small lecture. Oddly, most kids in this day and age absolutely loathed going to school and would rather play at the neighbourhood park, but if you had Krista as a teacher, then everyone wanted to come to school.

"The author of the narrative poem 'The Goblin Market' was written by Christina Rosetti in 1862. She was a famous English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems – however there's a controversy in whether or not 'The Goblin Market' was meant for children or not." She lectured, holding the open book tightly in her hand and meeting her class with eye contact. The room remained silent and did the same to Krista.

At the end of the day when classes were done, Hanji made another visit to Krista's classroom. "Hey," she called, catching the blonde's attention. "Have you heard the rumours about how there's an escapee somewhere near Riese St.?"

"Only bits and pieces of it. But I see conversing with you now has filled the missing gaps of information, what of it though?"

"You live on Riese St., right? Or am I talking to wrong person?"

"I live on Riese St.," she bent down and packed her bag with books and materials she'd need for the night in order to prepare for coming day. "However there's hardly been any chaos happened down there since it's a suburban area and quite some ways from the centre of Molching."

Hanji nodded her head and and buried her hands in her white lab coat. "Just be careful on your way back. You're awfully tiny and cute and I just worry that some crazed man will whisk you away to Oz."

Krista shot a fierce glare at Hanji from the moment she said "tiny" as if that was the most insulting thing someone had ever said. "I don't think I'll be going to the land of Oz yet."

The science teacher shrugged and left, muttering something about genetic coding sequences and other nonsense Krista couldn't quite understand. She finished packed and slung her bag over her shoulder and walked out the door and left the school grounds in a hurry.

As she passed Haupt St., she noticed that there weren't any crowds today and noted to herself that Molching'll be peaceful tonight without the angry people shouting and cheering.

As she turned onto her home street, one of the neighbours quickly started making his way over to her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, looking at the weary man in front of her.

"I just—" he heaved a breathe. "I'm just making sure everyone gets to their homes safely tonight. I take you heard the rumours?"

"Of course." Krista answered cheerfully. "But I hardly think it's anything we should worry about since Munich is so heavily guarded and watched nowadays. If something happens, the Nazis would get right on it."

The man nodded silently to himself and patted Krista on the back kindly and gave a wrinkly grin then turned away. She watched him hobble back to his porch rocking chair and decided to get to her house quickly too.

"Ugh, Reiner!" she groaned, stepping into a pile of mud in front her doorway from Reiner's boots last night. "If you're gonna start coming over here more often, at least do something about your shoes!" she yelled to walls, heel-walking to the bathroom to wash off her muddy feet in the hot shower and to avoid spreading mud across her home.

After she got out of the shower she walked over to the radio and turned it on while drying herself off. "The sophomore will continue with their studies on Goethe…juniors with Christina Rosetti, and freshman..." she whispered to herself as to get a mental picture of what the day would look like tomorrow at school. "Freshman." She repeated, reminiscing about her days as a high school student just before Hitler's rise to power.

She remembered Reiner – and how he could easily charm anyone by simply smiling. She remembered her best friend, Sasha and how she always brought a baguette bag with her to school to keep her bread safe it. She remembered Annie, who was named the school tyrant, but actually had a soft interior that only Sasha and her saw.

"Julius Caesar," Krista told herself. "The freshman'll work on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar story!"

"Why are you talking to yourself again?" the voice asked.

Krista turned around, shocked to see Reiner standing in the doorway with his muddy boots. "No! You have to take your boots off outside!" she barked loudly, shoving Reiner out the door.

"Calm down! Look! I'm taking them off!" he slipped his boots off and left them outide the doorway before stepping inside the house. "Yeesh! You're on edge today. Something bad happen at school?" he asked with a worried expression.

Krista blushed a little, appreciating Reiner's concern for her. "No – I just – there was mud on your boots and I don't want you traipsing across my house with mud, nor do I want to be welcomed home from work tomorrow with mud in front of my doorway!"

"I'm sorry!" he apologized sincerely, bowing deeply. "I'll leave my shoes outside from now on."

She shook her head at her friend and welcomed him inside her kitchen and started a pot of tea. "Blackberry tea this time?" she asked.

"Sure. I like all the teas you make anyways. So there's really no point in asking unless you want me drinking poison."

"Reiner!"

"I'm kidding! Don't worry!" he teased.

She groaned. She'd always hated when Reiner or Sasha joked about death or torture or things related to it. It wasn't funny. Not to her at least.

They sat for tea together and ate while conversing about Austria and how things look over there – not like Germany was doing any better than the country next to it. When night came over Molching and the street lights were starting to go out, Reiner decided to take his leave for the night with his promise to return again tomorrow for more tea.

Krista stretched her arms and fell onto her bed and heaved a loud sigh. "Beware the Ides of March!" she recited from Julius Caesar. She often fantasized how it would've been living in the past. In Victorian England, Ancient Greece, the Renaissance period. _Warless_ time periods of history. "Beware of the Nazis." And shut her eyes without bothering to climb under the bed covers.

She decided sometime late in the night that it was smart to not bury herself under the bed sheets as she was sweating from the summer heat. "How do people even survive on the Equator?" she asked herself before hearing a familiar knock on the front door.

"Reiner? It's three in the morning, what trouble have you conjured up?" she forced herself out of bed and down the short flight of stairs to the front door. As she opened the front she prepared herself ahead and recited exactly what she was going to say. "Reiner, its early and—" it wasn't Reiner. A pair of cloudless eyes stared daggers at her and the darkness strode forward.


	4. The Boy Genius' Melancholy

**I was typing this document during class at school - which I NEVER do since I'm too scared of getting in trouble. Well. I kinda...freaked out when the teacher came by and closed everything and forgot to save this chapter...twice...**

**Anyways! Notes then poof! **

**Note on poems: The poems I use in "A Dreadful Row" chapter was indeed by Wolfgang Johaan van Goethe called: "Song of the Spirits over Water" and the other poem in "Summer Darkness" chapter was written by Christina Rosetti - a famous Victorian era poet and one of her famous works was called "The Goblin Market" which I used in the last chapter. I really recommend reading the full version of that poem though as there's more to it. **

**Note on Tess's England: I write the English way for example: color. I will write _colour_. It's not that I'm misspelling, it's simply that I write the English way.**

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**Munich, 1939 - The Boy Genius' Melancholy**

"Mmmfh!" Krista struggled and writhed in her early morning assailant's grasp.

"Shh." Hushed a soft voice and the hand loosened a bit.

Krista freed herself and quickly ran to the opposite side of the room to get a clear view of who decided it was a good idea to scare the living daylights out of her at three in the morning. "Mikasa?" she asked.

Mikasa raised her head and placed her index finger over her lips. "War is at our doorstep." She announced gravely. Krista's blue orbs stared towards Mikasa's weary eyes as if those words were capable of summoning hell itself.

"Wait – what's happening?" she inquired, stepping over to Mikasa and taking her hand and sandwiching it between her two small petite, and delicate palms.

"The _Fuhrer_ – he's coming to Munich."

Loud shouting could be heard from outside the house. Krista turned her head quickly to the noise and urged Mikasa to come with her. By the time they were outside on the porch, they were greeted with neighbours shouting at some soldiers and throwing rocks. "Get out of here!" the old man from earlier shouted, forcefully pushing soldiers down.

"_Ihn zu töten! _Kill him!" a dark-haired soldier ordered. Krista's eyes darted to the side, hearing the sound of thunder in the distance and dead men. Humanity was killing other humans from different cultures, but now war has gotten so far out of hand that we even started killing our own people. The dark-haired soldier turned to Krista's house, giving her a glare that said, "take one step onto this street, and I will kill you." And that sent shivers down her spine. The other neighbours quickly retreated into their homes for safety and watched from the window, others stayed within their territory.

And then she saw it. The familiar soupy red flag with the symbol of death sewn onto it flying down the street. "_Heil Hitler!_" people shouted, raising their arms to the flag as if it were God himself. "Anyone who does not salute our leader is a traitor!" the soldier barked – looking at the people that now crowded Riese St., sniffing out a traitor.

I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that's where they begin. Their great skill is the capacity to escalate. There was a loud sound of a hammer piercing the earth in the distant and smoke rose up turning the night sky into a grey, depressing sky.

"Bombs!" the crowd shouted, pushing and shoving each other and blood-curdling screams filled the air. Five-hundred souls would already be in Death's arms from the single bomb alone that fell in Grobenzell, the next city over from Molching.

"Get inside!" said Mikasa, shoving Krista through the doorway and bolting the door shut. "Do not leave this house at all today! Don't even open the door for anyone!"

"But—Mikasa..." she said with a pained voice. "There's people out there."

"No, you need to worry about keeping yourself safe."

"I will not! As long as I am alive and breathing, I will do everything I can to help! I am a teacher! My job is not to only help students but people too!"

Mikasa slapped Krista across her cheek, leaving a red mark. "Stop trying to be some damn Messiah, Krista! You're only human!" tears threated Krista's eyes.

"You wouldn't understand." She said coldly, wiping the tears from her eyes and quickly hurrying to the front door and unlocking it before pushing it out to Riese St..

"Krista, come back!" Mikasa shouted, standing in front of the doorway.

"No! This is my house! I do what I want! If I want to save a life, then I'll save a life whether you like it or not!" her eyes were filled to the brim with tears now. Her hair was tied up when she got in her bed, but after arguing and trying to run, it fell out somewhere in between.

"What's happening?" a deep voice asked. Krista turned around to be greeted with a worried expression from Reiner. He noticed Mikasa's angered expression and Krista's tears. "Both of you, stop. This isn't the time for this. Grobenzell was bombed and people are scared."

The girl with the red scarf looked to the Aryan in a skirt with a hopeful expression on her face and that maybe Reiner's words got through to her. They didn't. She plowed Reiner down and marched upon Riese St.

"It's not safe!" Reiner snapped, grabbing her wrist and jerking her back.

"Why won't you guys just let me go?" she begged.

"Because we both care and love you!" Mikasa answered for Reiner, stepping off the porch and tenderly touching the smaller woman's shoulder. "We'd both be devastated if anything ever happened to you."

"You're our friend too." The lemon-blonde added, releasing his grip. The street was dirty now with ash, and the wind howled aloud from within.

A nearby soldier patrolling Riese St. marched up to the trio and shoved pulled Reiner away. "Get back to your duties!" and gave a sharp look to the girls. "And you get inside."

Krista looked down at her boots nervously and picked up her head again with a more confident look on her face. "Sorry sir, I'll leave this woman to return to her house," and gestured towards Mikasa. "And I'll return to mine." And strode off down the street, making it look like her house was down that way.

"Krista!" Mikasa shouted after her, noticing the evident lie instantly.

"Get your in house!" the stout soldier walked up to the porch and with his gun, he shoved Mikasa inside and closed the door behind him. Reiner quickly started for Krista.

_Run. _She told herself, picking up the pace until she was full-on sprinting down the street to escape Reiner.

"Reiner Braun!" an angry man called, slinging his gun over his shoulder. "You will come back this instant! We have duties!" and Reiner stopped chasing down Krista, but watched her grow smaller in the distant.

Krista had no intention of returning anytime soon – not until she could help someone or something. On Haupt St., she observed other citizens of Molching who also had similar intentions of helping people return to their homes safely, and to keep war out of the city. It was something like a revolution happening: the people who'd always welcomed soldiers passing through the city now rebelled against the very same people who they'd welcomed against bringing war to Molching. Tanks were already lined up in front of houses and the Nazis had already set up camp in the city.

A Jewish family – the Eberstarks – were also good citizens of Molching and owned a bakery. Krista often went there in the morning to grab a warm croissant before going to work, but ever since WWII began, people were driven from their homes like the Eberstarks and others went into hiding.

The mother instinctively hid her two sons behind her large figure and glared menacingly at the soldiers just as everyone else was.

Amidst the chaos and the loud marching, a little boy ran across the street and passed just below Krista's line of sight. "Lukas…" she whispered, recognizing the young Jewish boy as one of her students. Lukas dashed behind a building in attempt to hide himself from the Nazis.

Krista got the dark feeling that his family was gone – taken away and her heart sank. She walked slowly towards the back of the building, feeling pity for someone as small as he was to have to witness the horrors of what war brought with it.

"Lukas…" she whispered once more, peeking her head around the corner of the building to find his head buried in his knees, sobbing. "Lukas!" she said louder, dashing to his side and pulling him under her arm.

The boy hiccupped and recognized his teacher's warm face and nuzzled into her chest. "They," he gasped. "They took mummy and daddy and Monika away…"

She guessed right. _His family was gone._ Krista couldn't think of anything to say to him and only kissed his temple and whispered "I'm sorry." With the notion that she'd take him under her wing and protect him in place of his family.

"The Nazis are coming!" people started shouting from the streets. Krista's eyes widened at the noise, hearing gunshots go off and the noise of bodies drop. Protectively, she picked Lukas up and ran with him – away from Haupt St..

"Miss," he said, trying to keep up with his teacher's pace. "Someone near here is sheltering Jews. Let's go there. My friends fled there too!"

"Do you know where it is?" at the moment, Krista was willing to take Lukas anywhere but here. She couldn't get to her home now since that street was blocked off and overrun with soldiers.

"Yeah! Wandrosette Lane! There was a nice Nordic immigrant who lived around there who was helping with hiding people!"

_A Nordic immigrant? Why have I never heard of this person…_

"Her family has been there for years, miss!" he said excitedly as if the immigrant was some kind of a genius magician. "Her family moved to Molching when she was young." Lukas took the lead and tugged on Krista's hand, charging forward to Wandrosette Lane.

The Aryan was pleased that the neighbourhood around the street hadn't been touched by Nazi hands…yet. But it was only a matter of time before they'd come over here. Lukas stopped in front of a decent house – not too large, not too small, and not too shabby. Similar to Krista's home.

The boy tugged at her hand fiercely and dragged her to the door. "She also lets me play with her a lot! And she showed me how to do a magic card trick!"

_Ok, so maybe we are dealing with a genius Nordic magician after all…_

The door opened quickly and Krista was greeted by a tall, brunette woman with a heavily freckled face and such sad eyes…


	5. Foreign Mud

**I wrote this whole chapter in one sitting, so I get the feeling there might be some awkward sentences and repeated words in this chapter. If there isn't: then wow! If there is...eh, 'twas expected. :3  
**

**I also feel uneasy about the last chapter because I don't think I really took the time to explain what Munich looked like in it's war-torn state. I also haven't had the chance to write a lot of "BOOM!" "BANG!' "POW!" action stuff since I write a little more seriously than others. (It's something I'm working on! )**

**Note on Tess's England: I write the English way for example: color. I will write colour. It's not that I'm misspelling. It's simply that I write the English way. **

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**Munich, 1939 - Foreign Mud**

"Ymir!" Lukas squealed excitedly, jumping onto the older woman. It puzzled Krista – how someone who'd just lost his family to war could still smile. He didn't look devastated anymore.

The brunette grinned, bonking her forehead into his. "And you are?" she questioned the Aryan who was looking a little lonely standing at the doorway. "You look too young to be his mum – maybe…aunt?"

Krista turned red at the thought of being Lukas's mother. "No! I'm—"

"She's the middle school and high school history teacher and she's loads of fun! She also gets to do funny things with the science teacher who likes explosions!" he whispered loudly to Ymir, and loud enough for Krista to hear.

"Oh?' Ymir turned to the young teacher with a devious grin. "Explosions, huh? Should you really be a teacher?" Now she was just trying to get on her bad side.

_Please tell that to Hanji…_ "I'm not the pyromaniac…I just end up getting dragged into those situations."

Ymir laughed as if she knew Krista wasn't the explosion fanatic and was simply teasing. "Well, you gonna come inside or do you plan on staying out here for the Nazis to rape? You're awfully cute for a German Aryan." she lowered Lukas to the ground and watched him run off somewhere in the house then invited Krista in knowing what her answer would be already.

"Oh," the older woman said suddenly. "I never caught your name Miss Julius Caesar."

Krista turned and narrowed her eyes, giving a fierce glare. "Don't call me that."

"You're too sensitive Miss Julius Caesar." Ymir sang, leaning closer.

She balled her hands into fists at her side. "Krista Lenz." She mumbled silently, resisting the urge to punch the brunette.

"Ok then Miss Krista Caesar.

"Just Krista."

"Miss Just Krista Caesar."

The Aryan smacked herself mentally, regretting having ever said her name as it only made matters worse. "Why do you call me that?"

"'Cause I get the feeling your personality is like Caesar's; Caesar thinks he's some messiah and decides to go to the Assembly only to have Cassius and Brutus kill him. He chose not to heed the warning his wife, the Soothsayer, or Cicero said repetitively about the future death he'll bring upon himself on the Ides of March."

Krista remembered Mikasa and Reiner for a moment, but shook the thought almost instantly.

"Ymir and Miss!" the duo turned their head to the young black-haired boy who was staring out the window as if he'd seen a ghost. Outside, soldiers crowded onto Wandrosette Lane and demanded for home owners to let them into their homes for inspections to see if they were hiding any Jews or has some evidence that that they planned on rebelling against the Nazis' power.

"We have to hide Lukas!" Krista panicked, pulling the young boy from the window.

"And me."

The blonde turned to the brunette with a questioning look. "I'm a Jew too."

"What…? Then why'd I bring Lukas here if it only further endangered him!"

"No—but I don't look Jewish, do I? I'm from Iceland, ok? Nordic people have a different look than what Jewish people have."

Krista shook her head nervously, redirecting her eyes out the window. "But your neighbours will tell!"

Ymir shook her head. "No one knows but the people in this room." She said and gave a what's-your-choice look to the younger woman. Krista knew that she held the two's lives in her hands. She could choose to tell the Nazis that they're both Jewish and save herself or she could take a chance.

She grinned at Ymir then lowered herself until she was eye-level with Lukas. "How do you feel about playing hide-and-seek?"

"Super excited!"

"Are you good?"

"The best!"

Krista nodded her head to Lukas. "Then run and find a good—the best place you can find and hide there." And he did just that and disappeared somewhere in the house. "And Ymir—" she stopped herself, realizing how different saying her name sounded. There was almost something special about it.

"Miss Just Krista Caesar?

"Oh, stop it!" she growled and head-butted the older woman.

The dreaded knock came at last. The Nazis were now outside the house, waiting for someone to open the door for them. Krista prayed silently that Lukas found a _good_ hiding spot. Ymir opened the door and greeted the soldiers in a Scandinavian accent, hinting that she was an immigrant from the Nordic countries and not a Jew.

"Who is our leader?" the ginger-haired soldier asked in a scratchy voice.

"Hitler, sir!" she responded instantly.

"Is there anyone else in the house?"

"Yes sir! My good friend is in the kitchen."

"Call your friend over please." The soldier ordered, gripping his gun tightly.

"Miss Just Krista Caesar!" and loud slamming of cabinets could be heard from the kitchen, indirectly telling the Nordic that she wasn't happy with still being called by her nickname in front of soldiers. The Aryan stepped into the living room and curtsied to the soldiers, trying to seem as natural as possible.

"Aye, we'll take a quick lookie then Auf Wiedersehen." The ginger took a step into the house and started by inspecting the living room. Krista did her best to try and stay one step ahead at all times…just in case a certain someone was found. To the girls amazement, the soldier didn't find the young Jew and they couldn't either.

After the inspection was over, the soldier turned to the two: "Thanks, Auf Wiedersehen." And the stepped outside and disappeared down the street. Ymir calmly closed the door and slowly turned her head to the blonde. "We're safe." She exclaimed happily, tasting victory! They'd outsmarted the Nazis!

Krista shook her head and went to sit down on the blue sofa and gave a loud sigh of relief, resting her head on the back of the sofa. "I don't understand how we did it, but we somehow did."

"Yep." Ymir responded and plopped down next to the Aryan.

"So, you're from Iceland, huh?"

"Yep," She repeated with the same tone. "My parents moved to Molching when I was six and I've been here ever since. My mother was Jewish, my father wasn't really a part of any religion. Dad was just dad – but after meeting my mum, he converted to Judaism and the family has been like that ever since."

"Then I take you don't remember anything about Iceland?"

"No, I do. I remember having a dog named Sofie, but we couldn't take her with us when we moved here – so we had to give her up for adoption." Ymir closed her eyes and sighed, resting her weary head on the back of the sofa with Krista's. "Sofie was very protective of me. She found me when I got lost in the forests once and I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for her." Krista nodded, imagining what a young Ymir would look like being lost in a forest. "I also went back to Iceland sometime in high school since my grandpa passed away sometime around then. The grandies still lived there and I think that's it. That's Iceland for you."

"So it's green?"

"Strangely, yes. Greenland is the true Iceland."

"…somehow, I get the feeling that people can be so dumb sometimes. Like, who names their dog Dog? Who names a true Iceland Greenland?" Krista joked, and laughing halfway through her sentence.

"Dumb people do." Ymir answered and also started laughing.

Krista sighed, her sides hurting slightly from laughing and turned her head on its side to look at Ymir and she did the same. Dark eyes locked onto blue eyes and sent them into a trance where they traced their facial features and slowly around the lips…

"Is anyone gonna find me?" a small voice quivered. "I feel abandoned!"

Krista's face turned bright red, realizing that she was thinking such thoughts about Ymir and quickly shot out of the sofa, glancing to the sides. "Lukas! Where are you?"

"I thought you were gonna find me!"

Ymir sighed, a little disappointed that she didn't get to look at Krista's wonderful face any longer. "He's in the kitchen cabinet."

"Kitchen—how?"

"I shoved him in there."

"Ymir!" she exclaimed, quickly tearing through the house to save a little boy trapped in an unknown cabinet somewhere. "Lukas, hang on! I'm coming!"


	6. The Aryan Teacher

**I'm the author of this story and I swear I nosebleed over my own writing. Oh my god. I'm dangerous. I'M GOING TO KILL MYSELF BECAUSE OF NOSEBLEEDS. But then again...I nosebleed over everything that happens to my shippings. **

**OTP: *Hugs***

**Me: "AHHH!" *NOSEBLEED***

**OTP: *Kisses***

**Me: "OHMIGOD OHMIGOD OHMIGOD" *MEGA NOSEBLEED***

**OTP: *Gets all hot and steamy***

**Me: *Dead in my own pool of blood***

**Sad story of my life. *Grabs a tissue box and crams tissues up my nose* **

* * *

**Munich, 1939 - The Aryan Teacher**

"Spaghetti's ready! Come 'n get it!" Ymir called from the kitchen. Lukas was busy playing with Krista on the living room floor, showing her the magic card trick that Ymir supposedly taught him how to do until he heard that dinner was ready.

"Spaghetti!" Lukas cried, dropping the cards all over the floor and racing to the kitchen to admire the pasta being scooped into the bowls carefully.

Krista sighed, picking up the cards and reorganizing them back into a perfect deck before joining the two in the kitchen.

"Do you want sauce on yours, Luke?" the brunette asked, a spoonful of sauce hovering over Lukas's bowl.

"Lots!" he demanded eagerly, watching Ymir pour the thick red sauce over the top of the angel hair pasta then adding three meatballs on top.

"And you?" she asked, turning her head to Krista.

"I like my pasta plain."

"Figures."

"Hmm?" Krista questioned.

"You just seem like the type who'd eat her pasta plain. Maybe it's the hair?"

Krista tugged on her side-pony gently, blushing a little. Ymir grabbed a some tongs and grabbed the pasta and laid it carefully into Krista's bowl, then finally prepared herself a bowl with lots of sauce. The three of them sat down at the table with Lukas eating happily and the two eating quietly. Lukas recognized that there wasn't a lot of table conversation happening and posed the question: "So…what's gonna happen to me?"

Krista froze and stopped eating. She couldn't bear the thought of seeing the Nazis drag Lukas away, kicking and screaming. How could possibly have the heart and mental capacity to kill and torture the young or elderly? Even if Krista was a German, she recognizes that people are people regardless of their background, color, ethnicity, gender, or who they love…

"You'll stay here with me, silly!" Ymir laughed, flicking Lukas lightly on the forehead. "I have this big house and the house always has room for one more."

Lukas grinned, spaghetti sauce all over his cheeks. "Will you teach me more tricks?" Ymir nodded and laughed, her freckled features especially prominent now. Their conversation struck Krista as being something adorable. Almost like a sister teasing her younger brother.

"_You see things as they are and ask, 'Why?'"_

_I dream things that never were and say, 'Why not?'"_

Ymir recited from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Krista lifted her head with a puzzled expression. The line came out of the blue and had no relation to anything that was going on. At least not in her eyes.

"Would you like to stay the night? At least until it's safe to go back to wherever you live." Ymir asked, eating her angel hair pasta slowly and looking at Krista hotly.

"I'll take the couch," she answered quickly, feeling a little nervous all of a sudden. "The couch is very nice."

Lukas arched his eyebrow at her.

* * *

Krista removed some of the pillows on the couch and tossed them aside, leaving only the bottom pillows for her to lay on. Ymir came in with a stack of blankets and pillows in arms for Krista. "Here."

Krista took the sleep stuff and thanked Ymir and turned to start making her bed. "Is Lukas in bed?"

"Yeah, he fell asleep a while ago." and yawned loudly.

"That's good. I was worried he wouldn't get to sleep after everything that happened today…"

"Don't worry about it," Ymir said. "I'll make sure he stays safe."

Krista nodded and sat down on the edge of the couch with the bed made. "So you've read Julius Caesar then?"

"Of course I have! Miss Just Krista Caesar." She teased again, receiving a harsh glare from the blonde. "I'm just teasing! Yeesh! Can't you take a joke?"

"I can take a joke but not the dumb ones, freckle-face."

"Kay, you got a point…Krista." Krista's eyes widened and felt her face get warm. "What's with you?! I just met you today and you're all…"

"All what?" Ymir moved and sat down on the floor in front of Krista.

"Just—never mind. Go to bed."

"Ah, ah! You have to tell me something about yourself first!"

"What?"

"I told you about how I'm an immigrant from Iceland and a little more than that. I think it's only fair if you do the same, hmm?"

Krista rolled her eyes and hopped off the couch, moving towards Ymir and deciding to sit in the older woman's lap.

"DID YOU JUST PARK YOUR ASS ON ME?"

"Because I hate looking at your dumb freckled face. I feel like there's an odd number of freckles and that I can't count them is what annoys me."

Ymir's jaw dropped at the last comment as if it were stupider than someone deciding to bungee jump off a cliff just to see if they would survive. "Who the hell needs to count freckles to survive?"

"I do."

Ymir groaned and decided to get payback by using Krista's head as a chin-rest.

"Head-butt!" she screamed and rammed the top of her head into Ymir's chin with the force of an elephant!

"JESUS CHRIST! Are you trying to kill me, girl?!" Ymir cupped her chin, feeling the pain from being head-butted.

Krista felt powerful, and in control of the situation. "Now shush and listen and if you try anything funny, you'll get much more than a head-butt."

"Ok, ok, I'm already at your mercy. God!"

Krista exhaled loudly. "I'm Krista Lenz and I'm an Aryan—which I think is obvious to you and everyone else. I am pure German. My mother is German and so is my dad, but they died around the time I started my teaching job due to war. But even in such times of sadness, I'm able to find happiness in teaching. I mean—I love it when someone says something silly and the whole class laughs, or when the science teacher decides it's a good day to blow stuff up, or just the simple feeling that I'm teaching someone that could someday become famous!"

Krista smiled to herself, picturing some of her students running down the halls of the school with the principal yelling madly in German and Hanji cackling in the corner. "But I'm sad that I was born in this era. Born in a time of turbulence, because the students I taught will now grow up having known and seen war versus someone who grows up in a time of peace and happiness." She looked at her feet sadly. "Because you know…you know that half of the classes you once taught will die while the other half lives on."

Ymir heaved a loud sigh and wrapped her strong arms around Krista's smaller figure for warmth and comfort. Krista's blue orbs widened at feeling such a sudden sense of security and belonging—as if Ymir's arms were big enough to embrace the world. "You can stay here for as long as you like. I get the feeling Lukas would like that too."

Krista turned her body to face the brunette with a lonely look on her face.

"And I get the feeling that I would also like having someone to talk with too." Ymir added with a grin.


	7. Run

**Finally, this is the chapter where the rising action begins. No tearjerkers yet, but definitely some premonitions and foreshadowing. See if you can find the clues I've slipped in...**

**Also, don't worry. Even if this is the start of the rising action, the story won't end for awhile. I'm aiming for somewhere between 10 - 20 chapters - somewhere around there. We'll see.**

**I would also like to extend a thank you to the people who've submitted reviews! I appreciate and enjoy reading them as this is my first story! ^^ **

* * *

**Munich, 1939 - Run**

"Ms. Lenz, Ms. Lenz!"

Krista groaned and fumbled with her pillows, ignoring the cries of a young boy. It was morning and really...if it's morning, all you wanna do is stay under the heat of your blankets and not have to show up anywhere.

Beds are strange things-almost magical. You can stay awake in the long hours of evening in them, and in the morning, you feel like you can rest contently for a thousand years because before then, you agreed to marry the bed itself.

"Ms. Lenz!" Lukas shouted even louder, finally making his way over and ruffling the covers and shaking Krista's small, but bigger body. She flipped over onto her other side and fell back asleep with a few "leave me alone" moans. Lukas sighed to himself and stretched his cheeks, contemplating his next move.

Krista was a human being sure, but she was also his teacher. Regardless, he decided to just rip the blankets right off of her!

"Lukas! It's early!" she finally stated, giving up on trying to sleep a little longer.

"No, no," he answered. "Ms. Lenz, there are-"

Sounds of guns firing and people shrieking could be heard from all directions, as if someone released a wicked beast from years in captivity. Krista quickly put her arms around the small child and held him close to her body, getting the gist of what was happening.

"Jeezus christ, it's five in the morning. What the hell is going on?!" Ymir stumbled down the stairs, still in her pajamas like Krista.

The blonde looked across the room and gave Ymir a horrified expression that said, "Run." Run because the Nazi's were literally at their doorstep and who knows for how long an old wooden door would keep them away?

"Lukas," Krista said sharply. "We have to hide him...and you!"

Ymir shook her head. "Remember, I don't look like a Jew. Lukas is the one we should be worried about, but regardless, I think we can manage. We have you, the German Aryan teacher to cover for us!"

"But I'm one person! I can only cover for so long! Remember you told me that your neighbours know you live here, people'll start questioning if I'm always the one who answer the door!" anguish plagued Krista. Her mind was confused and her heart was lost midst the chaos.

The next five minutes were the fastest she'd ever seen: packing up, getting food, water, clothes, and other essentials. This was by far the craziest thing Krista had ever done in her life, and she couldn't believe what they were doing, but there were gonna do it.

The three of them planned to flee Munich and go to either Augsburg or Trostberg. Augsburg was north-west of Munich and Trostberg was the exact opposite direction. It all depended on how they escaped their Nazi-occupied city.

A little more than a few moment later, the army came banging on their front door, asking for entry to inspect the house to see if they were sheltering any Jews (which they were) or keeping any secrets about the Allies' plans or the USSR.

"Out the back door!" Ymir ordered, grabbing Lukas and swinging him over her shoulders before hopping out of the house with Krista huffing and puffing behind from running. They hadn't even gone that far and here's Miss Just Krista Caesar barely able to keep going. "For christ-sakes." the brunette also scooped the blonde up and ran at full speed with the two smaller human beings bobbing up and down. Ymir raced across one of the more abandoned, desolate streets of Munich with the hope that they wouldn't found. Worst case scenario, captured.

"Look's like it's to Augsburg then!" said Ymir, not even close to being short of breath. _It was a miracle_.

"That's north of Munich," answered Krista, her arms dangling about over the taller woman's shoulder. "But even I don't know if that city has been overrun."

"Looks like we'll find out when we get there."

Two Nazis came around the corner from behind a run-down building that could've very well been a hospital from twenty plus years ago. One of them observed the young Jewish boy under Ymir's left arm with a smug grin on his face. "Boom!" he imitated the sounds of a gun firing, pretending like he was shooting down the Nazis. Ymir gained a sudden second wind and blasted right between the two awe-stricken Nazis. She was a human cheetah with breathtaking speed! How could one not drop their jaw at the sight of Ymir?

"Auf Wiedersehen!" she laughed.


End file.
